Action Required from September: Renewal of the CESPHN Head Data Sharing and POLAR Licensing Agreement 

From 1 September 2026, CESPHN will begin renewing the Head Data Sharing and POLAR Licensing Agreement with participating general practices across our region.  

 If your practice currently shares de-identified data with CESPHN through POLAR or JSON file, you will receive an updated agreement for review and signing from September 2026. We are aiming to have all agreements renewed by 30 November 2026.  

 Why is the agreement being updated?  

The current agreement has been in place for many years and has not undergone a comprehensive review since 2019. The updated agreement has been developed to:  

• Reflect current privacy, security and data governance requirements  

• Provide greater transparency about how de-identified data is collected, stored and used  

• Formalise the use of contemporary data and analytics environments  

• Ensure practices have a clear and up-to-date agreement in place  

This review is consistent with work being undertaken by Primary Health Networks nationally to ensure data sharing agreements reflect contemporary privacy, governance and information security requirements while maintaining transparency with participating practices.  

What is not changing?  

Importantly:  

• CESPHN will continue to receive and use de-identified data only  

• Practices retain ownership of their clinical data  

• POLAR functionality and quality improvement activities will continue as usual  

• There is no anticipated impact on day-to-day practice workflows  

Why is this important for practices?  

Maintaining a current data sharing agreement supports ongoing participation in quality improvement activities and assists eligible practices in meeting data sharing requirements associated with the Practice Incentives Program Quality Improvement (PIP QI) Incentive.  

What happens next?  

• Practices will receive further information and FAQs before agreements are distributed.  

• Updated agreements will be sent via DocuSign from September 2026.  

• CESPHN Digital Health Officers will be available to answer questions and provide support throughout the renewal process.  

We value our partnership with general practices and are committed to making the renewal process straightforward and transparent.  

Questions?  

Please contact your CESPHN Digital Health Officer for further information or email digitalhealth@cesphn.com.au